BubbleStream

Tanya Goodwin

Do Not Disturb

Synopsis

In 529 A.D. Cybele and Diana are the Thelma and Louise of Rome. Both are on the lam to Constantinople, Cybele from her life as a prostitute and Diana, a socialite, from being framed for the murder of her groom on their wedding night. Despite their contrasting social status, they forge a lifelong friendship, ultimately one sacrificing her life to save the other, burying her in a sarcophagus in a burial cave.
Dr. Chloe Anderson is head of an archaeology team excavating the Byzantine burial cave in present day Istanbul, Turkey. Traveling with her pregnant archaeologist sister, she meets two young archaeologists, one head of the Turkish team, and one a contract archaeologist, both of whom compete for her romantic attention. But when the sarcophagus is removed, misfortunes surround her team, including her sister and one of the two archaeologists who become gravely ill. Chloe, certain that she’s caused these catastrophes by unearthing the tomb, scrambles to replace missing items taken from the sarcophagus in hopes of saving their lives.

Author Biography

Tanya Goodwin writes romantic suspense with a twist of medicine, medical romance, and mystery. Her experiences as a physician are reflected in her characters and in her stories. Tanya is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed her specialty training as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Tampa, Florida. She now resides in New York. Her present life as a traveling doctor allows her to switch from stethoscope to keyboard. Tanya is a member of Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. You can visit her at her website http://www.tanyagoodwin.com.

Author Insight

Hot Persistence

Nothing was going to stop archaeologist, Dr. Chloe Anderson, from finding out what woman lay in a sarcophagus, deep inside a Byzantine burial cave, not even the relentless summer sun in Istanbul, Turkey.
The romantic heat between Chloe, and Turkish archeology team leader, Mehmet, and that between Chloe, and contract archaeologist, Dr. Wesley Childs, adds to the blistering dig.
I had a memorable time imagining what my characters were going through when I visited a long abandoned dig site while I was in Istanbul. That particular site had harvested relics from the Great Palace in Constantinople, where of course my ancient characters, Cybele and Diana end their journey from Rome. So, is it Cybele or Diana in that sarcophagus? Hmmm?

Book Excerpt

Do Not Disturb

Chloe wasn't hungry, but what she did have an appetite for lay beyond that sealed archway. And the carvings etched above her, she was confident, were going to give her important clues as to who was in that sarcophagus deep inside the burial cave.

Dragging a ladder to the center of the stone archway, she motioned for Mehmet to join her. He steadied the ladder while she climbed the rungs. Chloe smacked her trowel into the rock, feeling the vibrations shoot up through her elbow and into her spine. Attacking the rock at different angles, sweat dripped from the tip of her nose. She shoved back her yellow hard hat, the plastic hot from the sun. Strands of her hair clung to her damp cheeks. She dug like a mad woman, her hands blistering beneath her gloves. Suddenly this dig symbolized a challenge she would not walk away from. She would not be defeated. Not today. Sand from the rock she chiseled into crumbled to the ground. "Look! It's an eagle's head. There's another one opposite it. Mehmet, I believe this is a double-headed eagle, the imperial emblem." Gooseflesh rose from her arms. Chloe pointed to the sealed entrance to the cave. She glanced back at Mehmet. "Why would a Roman woman be buried in a royal sepulcher?"

Mehmet shook his head. "I don't know. This is indeed a surprise. That's what I love about archaeology. You never know what you are going to find."